PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwetes historic meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House last week has caused a political stir in neighbouring Kenya, with that countrys media describing it as a public snub of Nairobi by Obama.

Tanzania elbows Kenya to become darling of the US, said a headline in yesterdays edition of the Kenyan English-language newspaper Daily Nation.

The newspaper article claimed that the honour given to Kikwete as the first African head of state to visit Obamas White House will further highlight Kenyas diminished status on the international scene.

The visit came on the back of a public snub by President Obama, who has opted to make Ghana the destination of his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa, said the paper.

It asserted that the growing estrangement between the US and Kenya would likely pile further pressure on the troubled Grand Coalition government.

The newspaper quoted a veteran Kenyan diplomat, Bethwell Kiplagat, as saying that Obamas decision not to visit Kenya first should serve as a warning to the Grand Coalition to get it act together.

Obama is the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother.

The frosty relations between Kenya and a number of its key Western allies represents a sharp turnaround for a nation described by the US point man to the continent Johnnie Carson as the keystone country in the region, said the Daily Nation.

Another leading Kenyan daily, The Standard, intimated that President Obama held secret talks with Kikwete on the subject of Kenya.

And even as the US increasingly lumps Kenya with failed states in the region, the disturbing aspect of the unfolding drama is the countrys inability to tap and take advantage of the US presidents roots, said The Standard in its Sunday edition.

The one man who is running away first with possible political and economic advantage from Obama, is Kikwete. Since inauguration as Tanzanias president in 2006, Kikwete has enjoyed closer ties with the Big Brother. That was also the case during the reign of the 43rd US president, George W. Bush.

The newspaper said Tanzanias clout and fortune have correspondingly risen as Kenyas plummet.

It recalled that in mid-2006, Kenyans reacted angrily when news filtered through that Bush and Kikwete had discussed Kenya during a bilateral meeting in Washington. Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula, then an assistant minister, demanded a public apology from the two leaders.

Today, Kikwete still occupies that special and envious place in the eyes of American leadership, said The Sunday Standard.

When Kikwete invited Obama to Tanzania, which former president Clinton - like Bush - visited and snubbed Kenya, the new US leaders response was more than curious, noted the newspaper.

He said: I would like to visit Tanzania. Last time I saw your country from the other side of Serengeti National Park, referring to his 2006 visit to Kenya, The Standard article said.

Obama is Kenyan by ancestry. Kenyan media reaction on Kikwete's visit to white house shows how suspicious we are against each other. It underscore my fear for the East African political union. Are we prepared??

It seems we are hellbent to protect our colonial boarders and our thinking as East Africans is still far away from our heads.

As we think of uniting this could have been an opportunity to have a common diplomatic strategy of selling the region instead of Kenya, Tanzania, Ug, etc.

Kikwete may have scored diplomatic points against his Kenyan counterpart, but that does not make a permanent change to the US strategy and tactics towards the region.

Bush visited Tanzania. Clinton as well visited Tanzania. Does this sound scary to an ordinary Kenyan? certainly no. We could have interpreted this in a different way to mean that Bush and Clinton visited the region, showing how the big brother is continuosly coming closer to the region.

We have loads of pinching issues to discuss, dont just browse through the paper, try and analyse its content. The paper has not in anyway spoken ill of Kikwete, it has ridiculed our leaders for failling to attract obama to revisit his fatherland, period. We have no issues with you, stop being paranoid. You are always worried when our media mentions your name, while Tanzanian media cant keep their mouths off Kenya's topics.

Its absurd to think that we are worried of your new found relationship with big brother, because the ordinary mwananchi cares less of what the international community says about his country if he cant put bread on the table.

Get your act right and stop misinterprating what is evidently posted on this page, hatuna ubaya nanyi, stop being paranoid.

By BENSON AMADALA and ELISHA OTIENOPosted Monday, May 25 2009 at 19:56
In Summary

Region now depending on maize from Tarime district

Most of the maize being eaten in southern Nyanza is from Tanzania, a survey has revealed.

Large consignments of the cereal are entering the country through Isebania in Kuria West District.

The staple food is obtained from farmers in the agriculturally rich Tarime District and is brought in lorries.
This has become necessary to cushion Kenyans from the effects of the prevailing food shortage.

A 90kg bag is going for between Sh1,900 and Sh2,000 and is later sold to consumers in Migori, Kuria West, Kuria East, Nyatike, Uriri, and Rongo districts at Sh2,450.

Orphanages, schools, and colleges also buy maize from Tanzania.

Enough supply

Mr John Mokami, a trader, said there was enough maize in Tanzania.

"The Tanzanian government had advised farmers not to sell their maize to foreigners for fear of food shortage in that country. But the farmers do not want their brothers and sisters in Kenya to starve," he said.

The cost of maize flour is expected to go down soon following the arrival of duty-free maize at the port.
Agriculture permanent secretary Romano Kiome said the maize was bought for between Sh1,800 and Sh1,900 per bag.
The National Cereals and Produce Board currently sells a bag of maize to millers for Sh1,700.

Reports have indicated that farmers are harvesting their maize before it matures to feed their hungry families.
The government has warned that this might trigger another round of food shortage in the region.
Migori district commissioner Julius Mutula asked the farmers not to harvest green maize.

"I must feed, cloth, and pay school fees for my children. I cannot wait for harvest time if I have nothing to eat today," farmer Lawrence Otieno, 52, from Kadika Village, said.

Elsewhere, the government has been blamed for the current food shortage.

Major Marsden Madoka, the vice-patron of the Agricultural Society of Kenya, said poor planning was to blame.

He told the leaders of the Grand Coalition Government to explain to Kenyans what had happened to the national strategic food reserves.

"Any government that cannot feed its people has failed in its mandate to govern," said Mr Madoka during a harvest festival service that preceded the Kakamega show at ACK's Christ Church in Kakamega Town